


A Play in Half an Act

by SecondSilk



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Community: communiquills, Community: hex_files, Gen, Roleplay characterisation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-15
Updated: 2007-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-12 13:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/125388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondSilk/pseuds/SecondSilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three women discuss three wars on the brink of the end of the last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Play in Half an Act

**Author's Note:**

> I was roleplaying each of these characters (Sanara and Hermione in Communiquills and Emmeline in Hex_Files) in the lead up the release of Deathly Hallows and wrote this to work them all out in my own head.

Setting: A living room with a couch and a matching armchair in red and a second, heavier built chair around a low table. There is a desk on the far wall. The room is softly lit. There is a tray of light supper, a decanter of wine and bottle of whisky on the table, as well as the appropriate glasses.

Characters:

Sanara Sinistra: A woman in her late 60s. She sits in the chair that matches the couch. Her wine glass has just a mouthful left, it is her second glass. She is relaxed and comfortable. She is the most at ease of all of them, a combination of her age and the fact that she does not feel a part of the current war past supporting Dumbledore's tenue as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Emmeline Vance: A woman in her late 40s. She sits in the heavy chair, a little further back from the table. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she in holding a tumbler half full of whisky. She does not like that she is there, and would rather be left alone with her thoughts.

Hermione Granger: A young woman, almost eighteen. She has drunk a little less than half her first glass of wine and is sitting nervously on the edge of the couch. If you don't know almost everything else about her, you should probably read something else.

  
CURTAIN UP

 _Sanara drains the last of the wine from her glass and sets it carefully on the table. She leans back into her chair._

 __ **Sanara** Are you looking forward to July?

 **Hermione** I think I just want it to be over.

 **Sanara** Are you worried, though?

 **Hermione** ( _shrugs_ ) What happens, happens. That's the story.

 **Emmeline** I'm not.

 **Sanara** ( _mildly contemptuous_ ) You're not even going to be in it. You're dead now.

 _Emmeline clenches her glass hard, then forces herself to relax before taking a sip._

 __ **Emmeline** I was more important than you, and I didn't even get any lines.

 **Sanara** There's safety in obscurity. I'm less likely to be described at all. You were an Order member.

 **Hermione** ( _remembering_ ) Hannah Abbot's mother died.

 **Sanara** But Hannah is a reasonably well known character. I would be more worried about your parents.

 _Hermione nods—she's thought of that. She grabs her glass and swallows a mouthful._

 __ **Emmeline** Don't scare the girl. She's not stupid, and she is going to see a lot of action. People are going to die.

 **Hermione** I don't want Harry to die.

 **Emmeline** He'll be fine. I'm worried about Severus.

 **Hermione** Snape?

 **Emmeline** I'm afraid that he's going to get short changed in the final denouement.

 _Sanara snorts in amusement._

 __ **Hermione** ( _uncertain_ ) That he'll never be redeemed.

 **Emmeline** That he will be. He's worked so hard to remain ambiguous, it would be a pity to waste that.

 **Hermione** He killed Dumbledore. I didn't think it could be more obvious than that.

 **Emmeline** If he killed Dumbledore, then he set me up, too, and I cannot believe that.

 **Sanara** Of course you can't. You've decided that. But there's nothing in canon to suggest it either way. Which is exactly what you wanted to maintain.

 **Emmeline** If he gets to explain what happened on the top of the tower, good for him. But if he has to prove that every move he made was planned and sanctioned by Dumbledore, then it's not okay at all. Severus deserves to own his actions.

 **Sanara** Even if he killed you?

 **Emmeline** ( _cross_ ) Yes, even if he killed me. That was a price I chose to pay, I took that risk.

 **Sanara** So you think. There's no evidence in canon that it is anything but what he described—that he knew you were going to be there. That you knew is your own invention. In canon you could be a Gryffindor.

 _Emmeline fingers her emerald green shawl._

 __ **Sanara** ( _cont._ ) You might have worked for the Ministry or the Prophet.

 _Emmeline rolls her eyes, but looks weary._

 __ **Sanara** ( _cont._ ) If Severus does have to explain himself, we'll probably learn more about you. Something incidental the way we learned about Blaise's skin colour and Nymphadora's apparent love of the Weird Sisters.

 **Emmeline** You're actually at the school though. You might be killed.

 **Sanara** ( _smug_ ) I'm still not likely to get more description than Mrs Abbot, in which case death will quite simple. I've lived enough. Seen enough wars.

 **Hermione** You didn't really see Grindelwald's war?

 **Sanara** No, that was Minnie. I just like to think I did.

 **Emmeline** Why anyone would wish themselves fond memories of the Dark Lord is a bit beyond me.

 _Hermione picks up her glass and stares into the contents._

 __ **Sanara** ( _defensive_ ) Have you asked Minerva that question?

 **Emmeline** ( _scolding_ ) She learnt her lesson.

 **Sanara** You don't know what I have learnt.

 **Emmeline** You haven't learnt anything. You don't exist in canon. You're willing to accept your death, but are you willing to be nothing to the story.

 **Sanrara** That's what you wanted. To be just one line, forgotten, so you could have your fantastical backstory.

 **Emmeline** ( _vicious_ ) Be careful, if you get mentioned again. We might discover your name really is Aurora. __

 __ **Sanara** ( _flinches_ ) It's so obvious. ( _smiles, not nicely_ ) Although not so obvious as Stella.

 _Hermione drinks some of wine._

 __ **Hermione** I'm sorry that you died, Emmeline. I always enjoyed your classes, Professor.

 _Emmeline inclines her head in acknowledgement and takes a swallow of her whisky._

 __ **Sanara** Thank you, Hermione. You were a delight to teach.

 _Hermione smiles at the compliment._

 **Hermione** I would have liked a little sister.

 **Sanara** You can't have one?

 **Hermione** Not really.

 **Emmeline** A little sister would have been mentioned by now. At least when her parents showed up. ( _to Hermione_ ) Siblings aren't all they're cracked up to be.

 **Sanara** I love my little brother.

 **Emmeline** My siblings think it served me right to die.

 **Sanara** That's unfair, however much you didn't get along.

 **Emmeline** We get along fine. They thought that politics was messy and undignified and the war risky. It's a defence mechanism. It is easier to blame people for dying than to accept the grief. Can you imagine knowing that Eddie lost his life for a cause you didn't understand.

 **Hermione** Who did you lose?

 **Sanara** No one she didn't chose to lose.

 **Emmeline** Gideon, all right, and I understand very well what he was fighting for. And you chose to.

 **Hermione** Stop, please, this is ridiculous.

 **Sanara** Yes, it is.

 _Emmeline finishes her drink and sets the glass on the coffee table._

 __ **Emmeline** I have to go.

 **Sanara** Of course.

 **Hermione** But why?

 **Emmeline** I have an argument to make about what is reasonable and what is melodramatic. It's difficult when you agree with the wrong people.

 **Hermione** I don't get much control over anything. But it does mean I don't have that problem.

 **Sanara** Be thankful. And I can blame my behaviour on my youth. ( _beat_ ) Most of the time.

 _Emmeline stands to leave._

 __ **Emmeline** It will come right. Good luck working your way through it. ( _to Hermione_ ) Good luck with canon.

 _Hermione drains her glass and puts it down. She stands as well._

 __ **Hermione** Thank you. ( _to Sanara_ ) And thank you, Professor, for a lovely evening.

 _Sanara stands to see them to the door._

 __ **Sanara** You're welcome. Thank you both for coming.

 _Emmeline inclines her head and exits. Hermione follows her, but turns back to wave before she leaves._

 _Sanara goes to the desk and takes a small collection of letters out of the drawer. She sits back down in Emmeline's chair and pours herself a small measure of whisky before settling down to read them._

CURTAIN DOWN


End file.
